My God, My Armor

In thoughts of Your armor You displayed to me, the mighty warrior You are to be. Walking with Your salvation surrounding my mind, the Truth of Your love is more defined. Your sword how it defends on the battlefield; Your Word so ready for me to wield. The righteousness of the breastplate; it is not mine but YOURS, thank you for covering me through ALL my wars. My faith; it shields me, because of Your love; thank you for stretching out Your arms after being born from above. Truth of You holds together life; the girdle of such deflects strife. Walking this road with You brings about peace; the sandals are shared and there shall be increase.

The apostle Paul wrote about the Armor of God in Ephesians 6:10-18.

 “A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.  Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil.  For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.

 Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm.  Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared.  In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil.  Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

 Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.”

The Helmet of Salvation- Our minds are protected from the mental assaults of our own thinking and the enemy’s schemes when we surround our thinking in the Truth of who we are in Christ. That is, a child of the Most High God!

The Sword of the Spirit- This is the Word of God and the only defensive part of the armor. [The rest of the armor is offensive; this is a good life picture for me, I need to think way more offensively that be on the defensive with others around me.] When God’s Word is absorbed into our hearts and lives, we have a great defense against what comes at us in battle.

The Breastplate of Righteousness- The righteousness is not our own but because of Christ’s defeat of Satan through the Cross, we can claim that righteousness for our own. PRAISE GOD!

The Shield of Faith- Faith in Jesus and belief in God’s Truth empowers us to hold up a shield so strong that it will deflect the attacks of any enemy.

The Belt of Truth- I read in one resource that it is actually a girdle and a girdle would be used to hold all things in and together. The Truth of the Good News of Christ holds us and all things together. This Truth needs to be like the blood that runs through our veins; our lifeline.

The Sandals of Readiness with the Gospel of peace- We need to walk in peace and always be ready to give the reason why we have such peace.

The battle for souls marches on but God has provided for our every need; we just have to believe and accept what He has offered, His love and sacrifice.

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What’s in a Name

For most people, we really don’t give much thought to a name; what it means, where it came from, etc. Recently, I read Psalm 124:8 and was overwhelmed by the implications of the name(s) of God. Yahweh; as He was called in the Old Testament, is just one of the many names used in talking about the being and character of God. Psalm 124:8 reads, “Our help is IN the NAME of the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.” So, what’s IN a NAME? A lot of amazing when we are talking about our God. I am going to just share with you an excerpt from my journal entry about this verse.

“Our help; my help, is in the name of the Lord. In His name, I have: a healer, a provider, a shepherd, a creator, a most high God, a God who sees me, the all-sufficient One, the self-existent One, my banner (miracle), a sanctifier, peace, righteousness, a Lord that’s THERE, an everlasting God, a Holy God, my Rock, my King, my husband, my dwelling place, my refuge, my shield, my fortress, my strong tower, my judge, my jealous God who wants me (all of me), my Hope, my Father, my daddy, my strength, my Lord & master, my Lord that makes my holy, my Savior, my Messiah, my way, truth and life, my God with me, the bread of life, my light, my cornerstone. Oh my Heart! “

What’s in a name? There is a lot in a name when it’s about our God. There is even more in His character and being than we could ever comprehend. But, OH MY HEART, how it races when I consider all that my God is for me.

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GET UP!

A few days ago I was reading John chapter 5 as part of my daily reading for a Discipleship Group that I am a part of. As I was reading, some of the red lettered words of Jesus just seem to jump off the page at me and they have continued to repeatedly come alive in my thoughts ever since that day. Each time I read and consider Jesus’ Words that He spoke so long ago, I am given a fuller picture of just how I can learn from and view His instructions for my life today. Then during some PRAYER time today I sensed Holy Spirit pushing me to blog about these thoughts; this is usually a prompting that means that someone else can benefit as well from this revelation. The verses are; as I mentioned, from John chapter 5 where John tells us about a man that had been lame for 38 years and was waiting by a healing pool for a chance to be healed but others had kept going before him.

6″ When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, “Would you like to get well?” 7 “I can’t, sir,” the sick man said, “for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me.” 8 Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!” 9 Instantly, the man was healed! He rolled up his sleeping mat and began walking! But this miracle happened on the Sabbath, 10 so the Jewish leaders objected. They said to the man who was cured, “You can’t work on the Sabbath! The law doesn’t allow you to carry that sleeping mat!” 11 But he replied, “The man who healed me told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’” 12 “Who said such a thing as that?” they demanded. 13 The man didn’t know, for Jesus had disappeared into the crowd. 14 But afterward Jesus found him in the Temple and told him, “Now you are well; so stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you.” 15 Then the man went and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had healed him.”

“Would you like to get well?” This question may seem odd but not if you truly consider it. We have been walking around for years or decades carrying the same baggage, pain, ‘chip on our shoulder;’ you name it, and wonder why we aren’t getting any better physically, emotionally or spiritually. Do we REALLY want to get well or do we want someone else to magically take away those things from our lives that helped us be the way we are today; or do we just want to hold on to those things so we have an excuse for why we are the way we are?

“Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!” This verse has stimulated the most thought for me. To me, there are three distinctive parts to the statement by Jesus. Stand up. This takes thought, a direct and motivated action of the will. We can’t sit by and expect anyone else to do what God has created each of us to do. We have to purposefully choose to take action. Pick up your mat. Whatever is our baggage, pain, chip; whatever it is, we have to take control of it instead of it controlling us. We don’t need to have Jesus supernaturally take all our hurts, pains and baggage from us; God allowed us to walk through those things so that we can help others who are walking that journey right now and can use some support and encouragement. We can choose to pick up the ‘stuff’ and use it to bring glory to God and help to those who desperately need it or we can let it continue to be the thing that stops us from the life that Jesus died on the Cross to make us free from. Walk. Choosing to ‘stand up’ and taking hold of the ‘stuff’ from our lives will result in nothing if we don’t MOVE FORWARD with it. I am still seeking God for what this looks like for me; however, I know that because I am willing to stand up and grab those things that have; for years brought me to paralysis, and hand them all over to my Saviour, He will guide me how to use it all for His glory and my good.

” Now you are well; so stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you.” Contemplating this verse during a Prayer time, led me to Isaiah 40:31 ” But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.” Trusting in and relying on God will give us the strength and all that we need to get well and stay well. I know that sometimes our complete healing does not happen and totally understand that sometimes it seems that no matter how hard we PRAY God is not ‘coming through as we think He will’; however, I do know that God is faithful and sometimes healing looks differently than we imagine so that God’s glory is revealed. Our charge is to just be obedient and trust that the God of the universe; that created all things, can handle what we have going on in our lives. If we choose to trust God and love on Him, He will strengthen us so that we can soar as the eagles; if we choose to go back to or continue in our sin even after we know the Truth of Jesus, we will suffer greater pains and not life our lives with the strength and assurance that is possible through the power of Holy Spirit in our lives.

I love how God’s Word can come so alive when we focus on Him. I PRAY that you are motivated today by the love and redemptive power of our Lord Jesus and feel the showers of Blessings that I am PRAYING over you.

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Where Was God?

Lately, I have been thinking about events and situations in my life and contemplating where I believe God was during each of these moments in time. While these thoughts were rolling around in my head, I felt impressed upon me; more than once actually, that I need to share these thoughts with others because so many other people tend to wonder where God is in the hard times. I find it interesting that we; as human beings, tend to see God’s Hand working during the good and great times but think that he is somehow ‘missing in action’ when the hard times hit.

Where was God recently when I was ordained as a Wesleyan Pastor in the presence of my peers and some family members. It’s easy; in this event, to know that God was present in the space because of it being a sacred ceremony ordained by Him; however, I can tell you from the overwhelming sense that I had of the presence of the Holy Spirit that not only was God present but He was working in me and showering me with His Abba Father loving presence in my heart and being.

Scripture: John 15:1-4 15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.  He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.  You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.  Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

Where was God five years ago when my 22 year old son was struck by a truck while riding his dad’s motorcycle which led to his immediate passing into Heaven and leaving his three year old son fatherless? I could get stuck on this, blaming God and the driver that hit Tad and become a bitter angry person; but I chose not to because God sent His one and only son to earth to pay the price for my sin, how can I blame Him or another human being for an accident. God forgave me long before I was even born for all that I would do through my sinful nature; I can’t live in God’s peace and hold a blaming spirit towards anyone else. So, where was God?

Where was God when my mom suffered and then quickly passed from breast cancer at the age of 56?

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:1 ” For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.” Psalm 34:18 ” The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”

Where was God when I suffered through much crisis all through my childhood which developed into overwhelming fear and a large insecurity problem and then into health issues as an adult?

Scripture: Psalm 46:2-7 “Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts. The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.”

Where was God when I was being formed with all my flaws and imperfections? Was I supposed to look the way I do and have the personality that I have?

Scripture: Psalm 139:13-16 ” For you created my inmost being;  you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”

One of the names of God that is a part of His character is Jehovah-Shammah; The Lord is There. Where was God when I was being formed? He was there. Where was God when I struggled as a child and up into my adult years? He was there; He was and still is, my fortress (Metsuda). Where was God when my believing mom was diagnosed and suffered through cancer and treatment? He is Jehovah-Shammah, He was there with my mom and with myself and with my family. Where was God when my young believing son was taken at such a young age and with a small son? He was there! Where was God when I became His ordained minister? He was there! In all the days and events of my life; from before I was conceived; Jehovah-Shammah my Lord, He was there and will continue to be for the rest of my days. So, when I am struggling and wonder why my God seems not present; I should seek my fortress because He never leaves my presence, He can’t because He is Jehovah-Shammah, The Lord that is There.

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Buffet or Not-Buffet, that is the Real Question?

All you can eat buffets are so popular these days. This is supposedly where you can really get your moneys worth of food. I have come to question if this menu option is really all that it’s cracked up to be. I mean really; we gorge ourselves on plate after plate of a little of this and a little of that and before we know it, we find ourselves basically rolling out of our seat and out the restaurant door moaning about eating too much again. What’s our other options? I wonder if we could pick from the main menu a meat, potato and a vegetable and be satisfied with that? So, what does all this have to do with anything? I am so glad that you asked.

I have noticed that we take the same ‘all-you-can-eat buffet’ approach to our faith and spiritual walk. We take a small sampling from here, there and everywhere and then find ourselves not growing deep in our faith. All these samplings can be very good; however, by sampling from many different sources we are unable to really feast on any particular entree and we are left walking away feeling ‘full or stretched’ without getting our appetites satisfied. I wonder if this could be a ploy from the enemy of our souls to keep us ‘spiritually plump’ and ‘out of spiritual shape/health?”

What am I really saying? A few years ago I went through a reaction to mold that was in our home and I was very sick; so sick that I asked God to just take me because I couldn’t stand the pain. This led me to do some research, severely change my eating habits, and developing a relationship with a gal from my church who practices natural medicine. I have discovered over the past three plus years that while so many foods we eat are very flavorful, they contain much of what I will call junk. We are getting nourished in the sense that we are getting food but the truth is that what truly nourishes our bodies is the foods that God provides like fresh fruits and veggies and meats, etc. Again, you may ask how does all this tie in together? I believe that when we supply our bodies, our spirits, and our minds with the ‘Main’ sustenance provided by God in His purest form, we are then truly nourished where we can walk away from His table; not only satisfied, but also strengthened by what the Creator has provided for us.

You may ask ‘What does this all look like?’ I love God’s Word (the Bible)! He used real people and real experiences to teach many many generations how to live and what not to do with what He has provided; maybe we can feast on His Word every day; maybe we can learn all we can about Him; maybe we can seek to draw people to Jesus; and just maybe we can serve each other in the love that Jesus displayed for us on the Cross. In Scripture we read Seek first His Kingdom and righteousness and all this will be added onto you. As for me, I will choose to feast on what God has supplied for me; His Majestic Word and His wonderful creation of fruits, veggies, and meats (hopefully without hormones, please).

Blessings,

Amy

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Destination Or ?

We are always in a hurry to get to our destination; have we ever stopped and wondered why we are always in a hurry? We get annoyed or angry at the obstacles that get in our way; even if it’s people, especially if it’s people. For whatever reason, we believe that we have to be in the shortest line in the grocery store; the fastest moving lane on the highway and we have to take the shortest route to our destination. Why is this? Is it really that urgent to get to our destination that we can’t even see the people or creation along the way? Years ago I was listening to a friend that shared that she wanted to go back to school but her kids commented that she was too old and she probably wouldn’t be able to finish. The Holy Spirit prompted me to share with her that life is not just about getting to the destination, it’s about our experiences along the journey. I believe that this is true about our lives; however, it is important to know that we have ‘nailed it down’ with God and that we will be with Him in Heaven when our journey on earth is through. What’s so wrong with slowing down, stepping into the long line at the store; pulling into the slow lane on the highway and taking the long way to your destination, once in awhile? Isn’t our life a journey and not a destination?

The other day I was reading a devotion that talked about how the Israelite people gathered stones from the river basin to build a memorial so that when their children asked about what the stones were for they could share of how God parted the water to save their lives and His great provision for them. This led me to stop and consider the journey that I have been on to my destination. This thought process led me to consider what memorial stones I would compile of my own journey. Because there were 12 Israelite tribes and they gathered 12 stones, I chose to consider 12 Journey Stones of my own.

1-Marriage. God is always present and working in my marriage; and consequently, me.

2-Perseverance. It has taken God’s strength to persevere through the hills and valleys of life. And perseverance pays off.

3-Fear. I have lived with so much fear in my life; that is until God started loving me out of these fears. As Scripture tells us, “perfect love casts out fear.”

4-Wisdom & Knowledge. God’s word and my life experiences have taught me so much and I am so thankful for the wisdom and knowledge I have gained.

5-Loss. Even though I wish that I could have gone my life without experiencing the loss of my mom and my son, I have been Blessed by God and others through these events. I am grateful for God’s love and compassion through these difficult times.

6-Mountains. God has shown me the depths of His creation and majesty through His mountains. It is overwhelming to comprehend the vastness of the mountains (the oceans as well) just as it is for us to comprehend the vastness and depth of God.

7-Freedom. Jesus is freedom. His love and sacrifice is freedom. Life with Him is freedom.

8-Avoidance. I developed avoidance as a way to cope with the difficult things of life; God has helped me to be free; almost completely, of this dysfunctional way to deal with such things in life.

9-Strength. God has given me strength to walk through even the most difficult things in my life. God is so good!

10-Confidence. With freedom, comes confidence.

11-Peace. I have a peace that can only be explained, ‘God.’

12-Love. I can love because God first loved me. He is love!

I share my own journey stones with you as a way to hopefully get you to slow down and consider your own journey and the ways that you can see God’s Mighty Hand at work in your life. Thank you for sharing this time with me! I pray that you take the time to slow down and enjoy your journey because that is when real peace can reach you.

Blessings!

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Am I Stronger or Melted Butter?

That probably seems like a strange title; however, by the end of the story you will totally get it. In April, my wonderful daughter and I went on a girl’s weekend trip to North Carolina to visit a great friend of mine and her other mom (teehee). This doesn’t seem like a big deal to most people but it is to me because this was the first vacation that I have taken without my hubby since we started dating 31 years ago. I will give you a little background so that this makes a little more sense. I prefer to ride in the passenger seat and not drive. I don’t see well in the dark, especially if it’s raining; and I am usually pretty fearful when driving through mountainous terrain and over large bridges. I am pretty much a chicken and the amazing thing is that I am not as fearful now as I once was; thanks to the Lord helping me to overcome many of my fears.

Anyhow, 13 days before we were set to drive out of our driveway; North Carolina bound, my wonderful daughter suffered a mild to moderate concussion and was pretty limited to what she could do; this included driving. This would mean that I would be doing most of the driving. I decided to just deal with it and it would be fine. I believe that it was God that put my mind in a tunnel and I didn’t even think about the states that we would be traveling through or the terrain that we; with me driving, would travel. We took off on a Thursday evening at 7:00 PM and were excited to get to our destination; hopefully by 9:00 Friday morning. We were doing great until we hit heavy rain in Indiana and darkness set in. I remained calm and kept moving while my sweet girl napped off and on; which she needed to do for her pretty little head to heal from the concussion. All was going ‘okay’ after I adjusted my speed to run a little slower; that is until we were in Ohio, just outside of Lima. The not-so-main road that the GPS took us down was beyond scary. Did I mention that I don’t see well at night; and that it was raining pretty hard, which explains why all of a sudden we had water over the top of my truck and I couldn’t see anything. This was about the time that I couldn’t breathe because I thought for sure I was going to kill us out in the middle of nowhere because I could not see what was on the other side of the water or if anyone else was on the road. Oh WOW, that was crazy. I wish that I could say that was the only washout we had the misfortune to drive through on that eight mile stretch of road. There was at least three more and at one point I thought we were trapped between two such rivers covering the road. I can tell you that I started to breathe again once we turned back onto a highway and off that most horrible road.

Sleep beckoned me a couple of times and I pulled over into truck stops to catch some Zzz; this causing us to be about three hours behind our well timed schedule and allowing us to travel through the beautiful states of West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina in the daylight. This was awesome, accept for the fact that this meant that I had the opportunity to drive some pretty steep mountain roads and some pretty high up narrow bridges. By the time my daughter took over driving I think my knuckles were permanently white from grasping the steering wheel so tightly for so long and my nerves were beyond shot. I allowed; unknowing, my daughter the privilege of driving through her first and second tunnels that went through mountains. She was very excited; no really, she was because she fortunately doesn’t have the chicken gene that I possess. She loved driving in the mountains and couldn’t understand what all my fuss was about. Once I wasn’t driving anymore and I could formulate a thought, the Holy Spirit helped me to see that all those mountains contained all those trees which held all those leaves that God created with attention to every minute detail, and how much more do we mean to Him than those trees. This helped me to calm down a little and know that God would carry us safely to my friend’s house. I literally said to my daughter; “well when we get to her house I will have either grown stronger or I will melt in my seat like butter.” We arrived at our destination almost four hours late and I was so tired that I was slurring my words; however, I didn’t melt in my seat so I decided upon stepping out of my truck that I must have grown stronger.

As if the journey there wasn’t strengthening enough, we decided to go to the ocean and the beach that my daughter choose was one where we were on a stretch of land only about a half mile wide and we drove to the very end of it. I joked that we were at the ‘end of the earth.’ I asked my adventurous daughter and friend to not stretch me so far out of my comfort zone that I broke. The cool thing was that I was okay; not scared or anxious, I was able to enjoy the beauty and vastness of the Atlantic Ocean. I even stepped into it and stood there for a picture or three. What a wonderful place to be, in the glorious creation of the Master.

I will wrap up this incredibly long story by sharing another message from God that I received in brown and white on our journey home. I was ‘Blessed’ to be the one to drive the first six hours home through all of the beautifully scary mountains of Virginia and most of West Virginia with my white knuckle grip on the steering wheel through these mountains, over the bridges and through the tunnels, which weren’t scary at all (the tunnels, I mean). Whenever I felt fearful I would say out loud, ‘we can do this.’ The ‘we’ was God mostly and a little of me. One of the times I said ‘we can do this,’ I noticed a semi passing me in the faster lane and pull right in front of us and what I saw written in the dirt on the back of the semi trailer was ‘God is Good’ and all I could say is ‘yes He is.’ It was a long journey; kind of like this story, but we made it home safe with the hands-on guidance of our Father and a little help from two of His daughters driving the little black pickup truck. I can definitely say that this vacation made me a much stronger person and I am so glad that I had the opportunity to share it with my most awesome daughter.

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Why A Blog

Why am I starting to blog? I have come to a point in my life where I am asking myself and God what good is the knowledge of my life experiences going to do if I do not share it with others? I have heard over and over from young people that they want to make their own mistakes and not learn from the mistakes of others; well okay, I think I can understand that but I think it might be an option to learn from the trials and tribulations of those gone before and not repeat the same goofs and just plain stupid mistakes. So, here I go on this journey of sharing what my life experiences and my choices have taught me.

Most recently, my hubby and I were doing a video Scripture study that centered around The Prodigal Son in Luke 15. By the end of the video, I was near tears considering the potential heart and life damage that can happen to the siblings of ‘prodigal children.’ They are; at times, left in the shadows to watch in fear of what their sibling will do next, just hoping to get some of their parent’s attention. What if they are so used to being in the shadows that it has become the norm? How will this affect them as adults? Will there be consequences from the ‘prodigal child’s’ choices that alters the siblings life? I have seen this personally and it can be like shackles around the ankles of the ‘prodigal’ and the sibling(s) and the parents. Being a parent is the hardest job I have experienced and I know that I have done the best I can; however, in my more mature years have realized that when I was a young parent I had no idea how my choices from those; and my teen years, would impact my children. Do we ever stop and think about how our choices will impact other people; especially those we love and have been entrusted to care for?

This realization can be difficult. Okay, so I have messed up as a parent; what can I do about it now that my kiddos have been raised? In Scripture I have learned that when I mess up I need to admit my goof and ask God for forgiveness and He will forgive me. I have decided that this is what I will do in my family when I realize that I have messed up; I will admit to them that I goofed up and that I am truly sorry for any hurt I have caused them. I have also decided that I can release those in my past that have hurt me. This is a whole other post.

Blessings to You!

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